THE SEALED SOIL

The earliest surviving Iranian film directed by a woman, Marva Nabili’s astonishing debut is a deftly observant work that conjures the plight of the female subject in a time of political subjugation. The film follows Roo-Bekheir, a woman living in a poor village in southwest Iran who must prepare to move in order to accommodate a state-ordered construction project. We watch as she goes about her everyday routine, a life structured as much by repetitiveness as by social repression. Evoking Akerman and Bresson through its uncompromising rigor, yet marked by its own brand of low-key sensuality, THE SEALED SOIL is shot through with righteous anger and an attentiveness to the inner world of a woman rebelling, in her way, against stifling patriarchy.

Newly restored in 4K. An Arbelos/Venera Films co-release.

"Astonishing… a meaningful comparison might be drawn with the Carl Dreyer of GERTRUD." - Filmex

"Told with extreme beauty and meditative sensitivity." - The Village Voice

"For cinephiles, feminists, and lovers of world cinema, THE SEALED SOIL is not just a film — it’s a revelation." - Sean Patrick Kernan